Word Choice: What Does It Mean for Our Writing?
We’ve discussed POV and voice, but what does the term “word choice” mean, how does it affect our writing, and what goes into choosing the right words?
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How to Develop a Mentorship
When learning something new, we’re often eager to find someone we trust to give us the lowdown. How can we make the most of a mentorship — real or virtual?
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Active vs. Passive Voice: Was and Not Was
Some verb tenses can cause confusion with passive voice. What is passive voice, and how can we tell when the word “was” is not a sign of passive voice?
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Beyond the Past: Understanding the Past Perfect Tense
Many writers struggle to use the past perfect tense correctly, so let’s review when the past perfect tense applies to our story and how to use it properly.
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Escape Generic Storytelling by Asking “Why?”
The most important question we can ask to get in touch with every aspect of our story is “why”—even helping us escape generic or cliché storytelling.
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Storytelling Verb Tenses: Past, Present, and “Literary” Past Tense
Most stories are written in literary past tense. What does that term mean, and if different from normal past tense, how is literary past tense different?
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Character Internalization: To Italicize or Not to Italicize?
A common question in writing forums asks when we should italicize a character’s thoughts. How should we format our characters’ internalizations?
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Writing Craft: How Point-of-View Affects Dialogue
We often want to share both characters’ reactions during dialogue. How can we do so without causing point-of-view, head-hopping, or attribution issues?
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Writing Craft Basics: How to Format Dialogue
We probably think we know everything about dialogue formatting already, but let’s make sure we know all there is to know before assuming.
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Story Elements: Give Them Purpose
For a strong story pace, we need to ensure every element has purpose. How can we do that? How can we know if a scene or sentence is pointless?
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